


Her Pink-Crusted Crown

by reminiscence



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Alternate Timelines, Gen, Gender Inequality, ffn challenge: diversity writing challenge, ffn challenge: pokemon big bang, minor adjustments to the pokemon world, pokemon species inequality, wondertrade, word count: over 100000 words
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-09-11
Packaged: 2018-12-18 23:45:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reminiscence/pseuds/reminiscence
Summary: She and her Fennekin are an awful clash, so she signs up for a wondertrade. She doesn't expect anything fancy, but a new start will hopefully mean pokemon that'll actually work with her. She doesn't expect a Diance to tumble out of its poke ball. Or the chaos, legal and otherwise, that comes along. She also doesn't expect her Fennekin to come on back around.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the
> 
> Pokemon Big Bang  
> Diversity Writing Challenge, L2 - a multichapter with chapters between 2000-6000

The assistant had her back to Serena. At least that meant she couldn't see her expression. It was mostly relief but she felt a little like she'd failed as well. Like Fennekin had been a test and she hadn't been able to convince her: show her how great battling really was. But then again, not every human was made to battle and every pokemon probably wasn't either. They were just a bad match. That was all there was to it.

And it was slightly uncomfortable not knowing where Fennekin would wind up.

No wonder Trevor had been reluctant to suggest it.

But her journey was at a standstill. She needed a pokemon that could battle and Fennekin was dead weight on her team. And no-one near Aquacorde or Vaniville town would trade for a Fennekin whose skills and interests lay in looking pretty and only that. Maybe once she made it to Lumiose City, there'd be people looking for a model pokemon: for pokestudios, or performing, or to be an advert behind store glass. But getting to Lumiose was an impossibility with her current team and – she was too proud, really.

She could have gone with Calem. He'd offered. She'd refused. She'd rebelled. She could go with Shauna too but she had her doubts the two of them would have even made it through. She'd rather a pokemon that could actually fight before she left the outskirts of Vaniville and she couldn't go home and borrow Ride – her mother's ryhorn – either. It felt too much like turning tail and fleeing, like showing her face back home when she had no fruits at all to show for it. And she didn't have any fruits to show.

There were all unpalatable outcomes and all she wanted was a starter that she could work with, that could work with her. Fennekin obviously wasn't it but Professor Sycamore had only three starters and he'd given them her, Shauna and Calem.

She'd dreamed of a fennekin by her side but she'd picked the wrong one.

And now she had to pay for that by relying on fate to give her a better hand this time around.

 _Goodbye,_  she said silently to the poke ball as it was swallowed up by the transporter.  _I hope you find a trainer better suited for you – and I find a pokemon better suited for me._

And then a new poke ball dropped out of the machine and the assistant turned back. 'Here you go,' she said chirpily. 'Say hello to your new pokemon.'

Serena didn't open the poke ball until she was in her room at the Pokemon Centre and the door was closed.

.

It turned out her dreams were too big.

They were supposed to have been the perfect match: Serena with her red top and Fennekin with the red fur on the tips of her ears and tails and her red flames, and they'd catch a fletchling with far more spunk than her mother's and it'd eventually evolve into a talonflame and she'd find a litleo some day as well – even if those weren't nearly as easy to find – and probably some pretty but strong non-fire types as well otherwise her team would be far too skewered to make it all the way to the champion.

And she'd get a digimon that could mega-evolve too, of course. Have the strongest, coolest team and one day defeat the champion and take the throne. She could do it. Even if her mother was a ryhorn racer and not a world class battler. Even if she was a girl (and she didn't even grow up in one of those families were girls were dainty little things that shouldn't be spoiled). And Diantha was a girl. Half the Elite Four was a girl. As far as Kalos went, there was gender equality on the surface but the people who lived in Kalos knew better. Not everyone was pleased with Diantha as a champion – and she was a movie star on the sidelines: a person whose face was plastered on posters instead of her skill. And then there were the masterclasses, and all the hype about a Kalos queen. No boys allowed in a masterclass except for the MC. That's not equality. That's inequality disguised as giving females more opportunities… Rather, they're saying: "this is what's acceptable for women and nothing else."

And the smaller towns had it the worst. The moment she'd moved to Vaniville town, she had to get out of there. And Professor Sycamore's message had come at the perfect time. Her mother might be content to live her retirement out at home and do the gardening and groom her pokemon but Serena knew very well she wouldn't get stronger like that. That she wouldn't reach those dreams. And she'd do things her way. Not become a movie star or a model or anything else that would drop her credibility. She'd show the world she was a champion of her own merit and nothing else, and whatever she did on the sidelines wouldn't undermine that image of her. And she'd sacrifice nothing for it. She could have a pretty team that was still strong and she could look pretty and still be strong – but the statement she'd make wasn't about the fleeting looks of a fresh team at the beginning of a battle, but them reigning victorious at the end.

And, of course, her pokemon would understand and support her every step of the way because that was what a team of trainer and pokemon did.

But Fennekin who she'd received from Professor Sycamore turned her head at the command to battle. She growled as though that was the only attack she knew when on the battlefield, or else trotted off as trainer and opponent alike stared at her retreating tail. She nibbled daintily at macaroons and ignored the store-brought pokemon food and that was exactly the kind of thing expected of a young girl's companion – and Serena hated it.

And it was impossible to do anything. Fennekin refused to fight unless she couldn't escape a fight and that was a shame because her paws proved strong. She just didn't bother with them.

What a waste of talent… But beyond that, Serena couldn't depend on her at all. Though she tried. She tried. And the others saw. Calem gave her that pitying look that made her blood boil because she knew exactly what she meant by that and she despised it. And Shauna only wished her well and skipped off because her dreams weren't so big and, quite honestly, she could probably handle Fennekin better than Serena could between that and her bubbly personality. But she handled her own chespin just fine as well. Even dubbed it Chester and Serena was sure if she tried to give her own partner a nickname, the haughty fox would ignore her calling out of spite.

Then there was Trevor who had plenty of theories but none of them were things Serena could do anything about. 'I guess the two of you are just incompatible,' he sighed, winding down from another spiel and staring at the scratches on Serena's face.

Serena fought the urge to drag her hat over her face to hide them – but that would be vain, and hypocritical, and entirely defeating the purpose. Still, there was another reason she'd never be a model poster girl. She couldn't stand people staring so closely. Stare at her abilities, her achievements, her skills and make a passing comment that she looked pretty or whatever but don't drown inside her body. She didn't want to be a ryhorn race but she did want to be like her mother: a woman who sweated for her recognition and everyone could see the sweat matting down her hair and rolling down her neck.

'It's not working,' Trevor said, finally.

'No,' Serena agreed. 'It's not. But what other choice do I have?'

Trevor was silent for a moment. She could see the indecision on his scrunched-up face. He had an idea. He wasn't sure if it was a good one, though. 'Do you have any other pokemon?' he asked finally.

'A scatterbug,' she admitted. 'But all it knows is stringshot. I can't battle with him at this point either.'

'Can you trade either?'

She snorted at that. 'Who wants a fennekin who refuses to battle or a scatterbug that can be caught so easily in the wild?' she asked. 'Granted, I guess someone who likes performing might work out with Fennekin – but I'm not going to find someone like that in this tiny place.' They still hadn't gotten far from Aquacorde Town.

'I guess so…' He was still sitting on something and she was growing impatient. Maybe that showed on her face, or he decided to tell her on his own terms regardless of her own impatience. 'You could try a wondertrade.'

'Wondertrade?' she repeated. She'd never heard of that term before.

'It's a trade where you put your pokemon into a pool of pokemon people want to trade away, and get another pokemon from that pool. It's random, so you don't know what you'll get and you don't know who'll wind up with your pokemon, but at least there won't be the problem of people not wanting to trade with you.'

'The pokemon in there must be pretty hopeless, then.' She sighed. But Trevor was right. What other choice was there? 'As long as they're keen on battling and have at least one attack move, I can handle it.'

'Keep your scatterbug,' Trevor recommended. 'If it's keen on battling, you can have it battle alongside your other pokemon and level it up that way.'

'I know.' Her problem was that Fennekin refused to battle and poor Scatterbug wound up with a task it simply couldn't cope with. So she'd stopped sending them out together. Really, she'd stopped sending them out at all because, right now, they were both useless in battle. 'Well, cross your fingers for me.'

She really hoped something good came out of the pool.

.

The pokemon was breathtaking – but nothing she'd ever seen before. And her pokedex didn't recognise it either. 'From a different region?' she wondered aloud.

That made things tricky. But if this pokemon was willing to work with her, then it made things challenging as well.

_'I do not know.'_

Serena started. There was no-one in the room aside from her and her pokemon.

 _'I remember a cavern. And then a dark place. But now I am free!'_  The pokemon spun around, the pink jewels on her body catching sunlight and sparkling – and with that, something clicked into place in Serena's mind.

'You're talking!'

 _'I am conversing with you, yes,'_  the pokemon agreed. ' _Is that strange?'_

'Yeah, it's strange.' And Serena wondered however in the world a pokemon like  _this_  wound up coming through a wondertrade. A pokemon the pokedex didn't recognise. A pokemon that could speak the human language and didn't just make sounds a good trainer with a good bond with their pokemon eventually came to understand.

But she hadn't been after a rarity like this. She'd wanted… Someone she could battle with, someone dependable, someone…

'Hey…' She said, after a break in which they only stared at each other. 'Do you like battling?'

' _Battling?'_  the pokemon repeated.  _'What is that?'_

And Serena couldn't explain without showing her so they headed out onto the trail and found a quiet place where other trainers weren't. That was pretty easy, since it was lunch time and trainers were at the Pokemon Centre filling their bellies.

The pokemon, on the other hand, were hostile at being interrupted in their attempts to find lunch. They didn't even need to fight. A fletchling swooped down to snatch a bunnelby's morsel of food and the two were in a scuffle. 'Like that,' Serena explained. 'Except you have a trainer and trainers give commands to their pokemon. They work together in battle.'

 _'The bunnelby might have gotten its food back if a trainer had been helping it,_ ' said the strange pokemon, sadly.  _'Or the fletchling might have gotten more.'_

'Not necessarily,' said Serena. 'Not all trainers are good enough to give their pokemon the edge in battle. Sometimes it's counter-productive. They learn together – that is, if a trainer and their pokemon can learn together.'

' _I…see,'_  said the pokemon. ' _And battling… is a natural instinct?'_

'Of sorts.' Serena shrugged. 'To pokemon, probably. It's also a show of strength, a way to decide the pecking order and territory and resources… That's for wild pokemon. Trained pokemon fight for the pride of their trainers, or for strength. Sometimes, they do things to spite their trainers if they don't like them.' Fennekin hadn't been particularly bad, in that regard. She could've been the type that attacked her trainer. Thankfully she hadn't. 'Trainers do pokemon battles so their pokemon can get stronger, so they can travel farther, be acknowledged as strong and skilful, or so their pokemon can learn new moves for some or other purpose.'

' _I…see,'_  said the pokemon again.  _'Battling has a lot of meanings.'_  It thought a little more. ' _I will battle. I want to travel, and be stronger too.'_

Serena beamed. 'You will?' she asked excitedly. 'Alright! Thank you, thank you, thank you – oh, what's your name?' What bad manners, she thought to herself, to not ask for a name when the pokedex couldn't tell her and she knew her new partner could talk.

The pokemon hummed for a moment. ' _Diance,'_  she said finally. ' _I am called Diance.'_

'And I'm Serena.' She extended a hand.

Instead, Diance bowed gracefully.  _'It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Serena.'_

Well, Diance certainly had good manners. And was keen on battling – for the time being anyway. Assuming they were on the same page. But it could work. It could definitely work.

Things were starting to look up – just so long as up wasn't off a hill and tumbling back down.


	2. Chapter 2

 So now Serena had Diance and a scatterbug. ‘What moves do you know, Diance?’ she asked. She couldn’t come up with a battle plan without knowing that.

                ‘ _Moves?’_ Diance echoed. ‘ _I’m afraid I don’t know what you mean.’_

Serena sighed. Of course it wasn’t going to be that simple. ‘Like that.’ She pointed at the fletching from earlier, who was diving towards a bidoof’s morsel this time and smacking the fangs out of the way. ‘That’s a wing attack.’

The bidoof rammed its body into the small bird in retaliation. ‘And that’s tackle.’

                ‘ _That doesn’t look too hard_ ,’ Diance mused. ‘ _But it would be impolite to interrupt them, wouldn’t it?’_

‘Not necessarily.’ Now Serena was amused – though she should hope a tackle wasn’t ”too hard”. The scatterbug’s body was too soft for it at the moment, but Diance looked as though she had a solid build. ‘That fletchling must be pretty hungry if it’s going for tiny scraps like that. And we can give it food at the Pokemon Centre if we catch it. And I’ve been wanting a fletchling on my team, at that.’

                ‘ _So trainers battle wild pokemon to add them to their team?’_ Diance asked. ‘ _Battling can accomplish many things.’_

 _‘_ It certainly can,’ Serena agreed. ‘Catching new pokemon, training, learning new skills, getting stronger… And sometimes you can fight for other things as well. Like those two, fighting over food.’

They watched the pair. Fletching dug its beak into bidoof’s hide until bidoof pushed it away. ‘That was peck,’ Serena explained. ‘Though doesn’t look like it was particularly effective. The bidoof didn’t scream.’

                ‘ _The bidoof is going to keep the food_ ,’ Diance said sadly as bidoof snatched its food and ran off, ‘ _and the fletching is going to go without again. Even if it’s the one trying to snatch food from others_.’

                ‘Then let’s battle it,’ Serena offered. ‘Fletchling!’

The fletching, now without an opponent, turned to them.

                ‘We’ll feed you if you battle us! But if you lose, you come along with us. How about it?’

The fletching stared between the two of them, and then it squawked once in acceptance. It wasn’t afraid in the least. Didn’t seem to notice or care Diance was made at least partly of rock. Didn’t seem to care it had already battled twice in a space of minutes, either.

Was that stubbornness, Serena wondered, or was that giving up and just putting a cursory effort towards survival. The second would make it difficult to train but it was without its flock. The opportunity had basically fallen into her lap. A fletchling flock was for training or sport or, for other pokemon, a food. But a fletchling on its own – that was the sort where they could tailor their strength and gain a new companion out of it.

Then again, she had no idea about Diance’s strength and neither did Diance herself, so this plan of theirs could spectacularly backfire.

                ‘Let it attack first,’ she ordered. ‘Get an idea of how strong it is before we move in.’

                ‘ _Agreed,’_ said Diance daintily, and she stood straight as the fletchling swooped in and bounced off her chest. _‘It is quite light.’_

                ‘You’re a rock type,’ Serena explained, watching the fletchling spiral back. ‘Or at least part rock. Flying types can’t do much to that hide.’

                ‘ _Oh… but then this hardly seems fair.’_

                ‘On the other hand, it would gobble up my scatterbug if I send it out instead.’

Only when the fletchling shot into the air and then down – not towards its opponent but to the aforementioned scatterbug – did she realise she shouldn’t have called attention to it. ‘Damn,’ she snapped. ‘Diance, block it!’

But whether the fletchling was powerful or not, it was fast and it had spotted food. ‘String shot!’ she ordered her scatterbug. At least it would slow it down – if it hit.

It did, if only because the fletchling was more concerned about losing its trajectory than slowing down. But it slowed, and Diance got between it and it’s prey.

The fletchling crashed into Diance’s hard hide again and this time slid into the grass. Serena cursed again and checked on it. ‘Just unconscious. Good.’ She tapped open a poke-ball and watched the red light swallow it.

                ‘ _Where has the fletchling gone?’_ Diance asked.

                ‘Into the poke-ball.’ Serena held it up. ‘It’s a transportation and storage device for pokemon.’ She returned her scatterbug as well. It was uninjured but shaking. Diance she left out for now. ‘That way, when pokemon are injured or too large to be in certain places or in any kind of danger, we can put them into poke-balls and they’ll be safe. They also have a small healing capacity, so trainers almost always return their pokemon after a battle or when it’s time to sleep, and often when they’re on the road as well.’

                ‘ _A poke-ball,’_ Diance repeated. ‘ _That’s what they are called. It was quite… cosy.’_

                ‘They’re supposed to be,’ Serena laughed. ‘But how are you feeling now? Do you want to go inside too, or stay out until we get to the Pokemon Centre? We’re not far away.’

                _‘… I will stay out_ ,’ Diance decided. ‘ _I have not yet attempted this… tackle_.’

                ‘That’s true,’ Serena mused. ‘The fletchling and scatterbug will be okay in their poke-balls.’ She glanced around, but the bidoof and bunnelby from earlier were both gone and she couldn’t see any others. ‘If you see any rustling grass, try to tackle it,’ she said. ‘And in the meantime, we’ll get back to the Pokemon Centre. We can do some training proper after lunch.’

                ‘ _Lunch…_ ’ Diance repeated. ‘ _Like those small bites of food?’_

‘Bigger bites,’ Serena laughed. ‘And once we start winning battles, we can have even more.’

                ‘ _Winning means more food?’_ Diance asked.

                ‘Kind of. It’s more that winning means money and money means more food. It sort of depends, though. Because there are other ways to get money too. Some have rich parents that are always happy to send money from home and they themselves are happy to accept. Others want to earn their money – or have no choice but to earn their money. And you can earn money by defeating other trainers, selling meat and items, or teaching, or winning prizes of some sort.’

                ‘ _This world is complicated,_ ’ Diance decided.

Serena laughed again at that. ‘ _And you haven’t even met other people yet.’_

.

Nurse Joy turned out to be a complicated meaning in itself, and Serena hadn’t really been expecting that. After all, Nurse Joy was used to pokemon coming to her at death’s door, suspended by the poke-balls. She was used to some of them being horrifically mangled because someone had misjudged their strength or a defence had unexpectedly failed. And she was used to pokemon pushed far further than they were capable of – and knowing the difference between what was an accident or unavoidable or deliberate abuse.

But Nurse Joy just gaped at Diance, ignoring the two poke balls Serena put on the counter. ‘Diance could use a check up as well,’ Serena said. Was it that Nurse Joy didn’t recognise the pokemon, or that it was a rarity? ‘But the other two need more attention. The fletchling is a new capture.’

                ‘Ah.’ Nurse Joy blinked. “New capture” was usually synonymous to “in need of urgent attention. ‘I’m afraid I’ve never seen a diance before, so I’ll take care of your other pokemon and then we can have a look at it.’

                ‘Her,’ Serena corrected, but Nurse Joy had whisked the two poke-balls away. Serena sighed and took a seat in the lobby.

Other trainers flocked to the pair of them.

‘Wow, your pokemon’s gorgeous.’

‘What species is it?’

‘I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

‘Is it strong?’

‘Is it real?’

Diance was silent, though whether she was shy or enamoured, Serena had no idea. Still, that left Serena to answer the questions. ‘I don’t know. She’s a new addition. I received her in a trade. I already said I have no idea.’

She sighed when the questions turned to offers of trade. She had a pokemon that wanted to work with her – and weren’t these the same people who _didn’t_ want to trade when she needed to?

It was a relief when Nurse Joy called for her over the intercom.

.

                ‘I’ve called Professor Sycamore,’ she said in way of greeting, once the pair of them and the centre’s wigglytuff and Diance were all behind closed doors.

                ‘Hello, Serena,’ the professor called from the screen.

                ‘Hello, professor,’ Serena tiredly replied. She really wasn’t in the mood for more questions – but at least the professor was likely to be helpful. And they might have a problem if even he didn’t recognise Diance.

                ‘So this is your new pokemon.’ He hummed to himself as he stared. ‘A beautiful specimen. You’ll need to keep a sharp eye on them because there’s many a hunter who just looks for the jewel on a person’s head.’

Diance’s hands flew to her jewel crown. ‘ _Oh no,_ ’ she cried. ‘ _My jewels are a part of me.’_

                ‘Of course they are,’ Serena sighed. ‘You can’t help that there’s people who think like that. In any case, you’re my pokemon now. It’s illegal to hunt a pokemon belonging to someone.’

Nurse Joy gaped at the pair of them. ‘Your Diance spoke!’ she exclaimed.

                ‘I didn’t hear anything.’ Professor Sycamore sounded both excited and disappointed – however he managed that. ‘I wonder if it’s telepathy. In that case, since I’m talking over telephone, her mind can’t link with mine.’

                ‘ _Telepathy,’_ Diance mused. ’ _Do you communicate with telepathy as well?’_

                ‘No.’ Serena waved a hand. ‘I’m talking. We’re all taking.’

‘We’re the same species speaking the same language,’ the professor explained. ‘That’s why we understand each other. Some people spend enough time around certain pokemon species that they learn to understand them, and some pokemon who learn to speak the human tongue – but what you’re doing is not speaking through words, which is talking, but by your mind, with his telepathy. Which is a rare gift in itself…’ His voice trailed off. ‘Where did you find her, Serena?’

‘Wonder Trade,’ Serena admitted. ‘Fennekin and I didn’t work out.’

‘I see. That’s a shame.’ Now the sound of keyboard keys came through. ‘Now, I’ve never seen a pokemon like – Diance, did you say? – before, but it’s appearance does remind me a little of carbink. Have you heard of them?’

‘…no,’ Serena said after a moment’s thought.

Nurse Joy shook her head as well.

The professor’s face was replaced by an image. Serena squinted at it and thought the relationship looked a little abstract – but most pokemon evolutions were like that. A small flat diamond stone turning into an elongated one and blue gems turning pink? Perhaps.

                ‘Do you think Diance is an evolution of a carbink?’ she asked.

                ‘Perhaps,’ the professor replied. ‘That would involve me having a closer look at their molecular structures, and if that’s true, then working out the process of evolution as well. There’s no record of carbink being able to evolve – but truthfully, there isn’t much known about carbink at all.’

                ‘So carbink are pretty rare.’ That was interesting. But honestly, she hadn’t been after rare pokemon per say. Just strong ones. Ones that wanted to battle. Ones that could stand on their own merit.

If Diance was as rare as the professor was saying… Then wasn’t that something aside from merit to stand on?

                ‘ _I am simply me,’_ Diance said sadly, and Serena wondered she could hear her thoughts – that disappointment. _‘I want to learn more about myself. I want to become strong. And I want to learn more about the world as well.’_

                ‘You can do all of that…’ Serena’s heart went out to that voice. It wasn’t Diance’s fault she was rare, just like it wasn’t Serena’s fault she was a girl in a world for men. ‘No-one cares in the wind. As for the trainer battles…’

                ‘It might be better to avoid the spotlight, for now,’ Professor Sycamore agreed. ‘At least until we know more about Diance – or find others like her. Try not to use her in front of other trainers. Definitely don’t use her for trainer battles… But as you said, wild pokemon are fine. Just be aware of your surroundings at all times. We don’t want something happening to either of you.’

The pair of them nodded.

And, of course, Nurse Joy wouldn’t tell anyone. No Nurse Joy would; it was part of their practice oath. And so the Pokemon Centres were safe.

                ‘We’ll find a quiet place to train after lunch,’ she promised, because Diance was still looking disappointed. ‘All four of us.’

                ‘Oh, did you catch another pokemon as well?’ Professor Sycamore asked.

                ‘Yep, a fletchling.’

                ‘Marvellous.’ He beamed at her. ‘You’ve been wanting one, haven’t you?’

                ‘Yep,’ she said again. Maybe a part of it was because it reminded her of home in a way that wasn’t the expectations on their ryhorn’s shoulders. An innocent, quiet part of home. Or maybe because it was an ordinary pokemon but a favourite amongst the sky battlers because, when they evolved they were mean fire birds. One was said to have even stood up against Moltres, and he was the king of fire birds.

And also the colour: the way they all came together: reds and pinks and greys.

There’d be a trip to a meadow at some point, once scatterbug was a solid spewpa. And now she had a Diance who fit right in.

Maybe they could overcome that inherent prejudice in the world as well.

Why not try? She was trying to overcome one herself, after all.

                ‘Let’s aim for the grand stage and show our strength to the world,’ she said, quietly enough so only Diance heard.

                ‘ _Let’s_ ,’ said Diance brightly.

Nurse Joy looked confused, because she’d only heard the tail-end of that exchange. And Professor Sycamore was thinking about other matters. ‘Are you planning on staying long?’

                ‘In Aquacorde? Not particularly.’ Now that she had pokemon that could fight, she could tackle the forest. ‘I’ve been here for a while already.’

                ‘Then… Santalune is next?’ At Serena’s affirmation, he added: ‘Call from there and I’ll send Dexio to meet you. If Diance is willing to donate some cell samples, then we should be able to figure out whether or not she’s related to the carbink species or not – or something else we’re simply not thinking of.’

                ‘ _I am happy to assist,’_ agreed Diance, and Serena voiced her agreement as well.

                ‘Excellent.’ The professor clapped his hands together. ‘I have to say. It’s not mega evolution but it’s still exciting, exploring an unknown pokemon. Two all take care.’

And then Nurse Joy and Serena were left to deal with Diance with only a little more information than they’d originally had.

                ‘You don’t know her typing? Level? Stats? Anything?’

Serena shook her head at all of those. ‘We can have them all tested for… but the training gyms are expensive.’ And since she’d been stuck in Aquacorde for longer than she’d anticipated and with two pokemon who couldn’t or wouldn’t fight, she hadn’t had a way of increasing her funds. She’d be better off doing that in Santalune. Between Avance Trail and Santalune Forest, there’d be plenty opportunities for training and spoils collecting.

But trainer requirements said all that information had to be registered before said pokemon in a trainer’s battle, and there’d be trainers in Santalune Forest… probably.

So she had three options. Avoid trainers on the way to Santalune, battle them with the one pokemon she did have registered, or hang around Aquacorde for a while longer and build up those funds.

Well, she wasn’t leaving right that minute. She could think on it.


	3. Chapter 3

 

Training was a matter of urgency now. They needed a better understanding of their own abilities and how they worked together, and also to make up for lost time. Serena could feel her own impatience but nothing she thought about during lunch would get rid of it – and she was sure Diance was picking up on it as well. She just couldn’t help it. It couldn’t be helped.

And her options were limited, too. She couldn’t battle a trainer because her only registered pokemon was the scatterbug who only knew stringshot, and she couldn’t go to a training gym because they required registration and payment for use of their facilities. Which only left training in the wild until she either had enough carcasses or berries or other things lying about the place collected for some cash, or her scatterbug grew strong enough to take on other beginning trainers.

So as soon as they were done eating, they were off, back to a patch of grass off Avance trail that wasn’t being used by someone else. She picked one with a tree, this time. An inanimate object that was less likely to hurt or be hurt by ungauged tackles.

Or so she thought. Diance’s full-powered tackle caused a crack to shoot up the trunk. _‘Oh dear,_ ’ Diance said, tracing her handiwork. _‘I didn’t mean for that to happen.’_

                ‘At least we kind of know how strong you are,’ Serena sighed. Now to convert that into something sensible in her head. A trevanant should be able to take a tackle of any sort or strength, considering it was partially a ghost – unless someone employed foresight or miracle eye or something to that effect. ‘Can you punch the deepest part of the crack?’ Because it was easiest to aim there, even if it did bring the tree down all the way.

Diance tried. In truth, she missed the mark completely. Serena hummed to herself, wondering if that was an incapability to punch with the proportions of her body (and that made sense, seeing how small and lithe those arms were) or just her aim. Still, arm strength couldn’t go wrong – once they were through the basics, in any case. ‘Let’s try you tackling the exact same spot again.’

Diance missed the spot again, but got the trunk nonetheless. The tree groaned and tipped back, but didn’t fall. Not yet.

So DIance’s aim wasn’t perfect. That was something to work on.

Serena dug a notebook out of her bag and scribbled in it, thinking she should’ve had it out from the get-go. But it didn’t really matter. Not much time lost and seconds didn’t matter here. They mattered on the battlefield – and that meant she wouldn’t need her notebook at all because there’d be no time to read nor write in it. She could only imagine the disaster it would be if someone always had her nose in a notebook and didn’t look up to see how the battle was playing out right in front of them.

                ‘Aim,’ she repeated allowed. And after aim was dealt with, they could try and tailor power – because she couldn’t think of how to do that otherwise. Hit without breaking a twig… Well, she’d have to hit the twig itself, first.

                ‘Now for the scatterbug…’ She wanted it to learn tackle, at least. Some sort of attacking move. But that would require Diance knowing her own tackle a little better first.

Though according to the poke dex, it did know tackle. It simply didn’t know it in practice and that just proved that the rules that people attributed to pokemon weren’t always the case. Tackle was an egg move for many digimon including scatterbug, but here was her level two scatterbug that didn’t know it at all.

Unless it had gained a level after its participation in the battle with fletchling, but she’d need to get scatterbug reassessed to know… and it wasn’t really worth it. Before gym battles and tournament matches was one thing, to make sure they made the cut-offs, but it wasn’t particularly useful in training. She could keep track of battles and expected experience and stat gains on her own, and it didn’t really matter if she was a little off at the end of the day, if she erred on the side of caution.

So until Diance worked out her tackle, the scatterbug could only work on string shot?

Serena sighed. This was going to be trickier than she’d thought.

At least scatterbug could work on its aim and range. She set it to work hitting leaves on the tree.

Which left the fletchling, whose peck couldn’t even make a dent in the splintered trunk.

                ‘Right,’ Serena sighed. ‘Do you know any other attacks?’

Fletchling gave her a blank look.

                ‘Tackle? Growl? Quick attack?’

Unless its parents knew peck, it should know the other moves at least. And tackle was an egg move as well. But nope. Fletchling just stared blankly.

Her pokemon were certainly an interesting mix. And going to be difficult to train.

                ‘Diance, try and work out what parts of your body come into contact with your target when you use tackle,’ she said. ‘Maybe aim for the ground – just so we don’t knock down all the trees here.’

                _‘Okay!’_ Diance said happily, eager to be doing something, and threw herself on the ground. _‘Oh, this is dusty.’_

It was. Serena and the other two edged a little away from the dust cloud.

                ‘Now for the fletchling…’ She mumbled to herself – and she really should come up with nicknames for them. Especially the fletchling, so no-one confused it with her mother’s. But she didn’t even know it’s gender until she got it registered. One day, the poke dex would be more automatic but for now it was only a portable storage for information. And a travel journal and log. She could retrace her own steps with this, and so could anyone else who found it. But as far as giving new useful information went – well, the gyms still had a monopoly on that.

In any case, she couldn’t think of how to make the fletchling’s peck attacks any stronger, aside from slowly building up muscle bulk. There was no point just hammering away at a rock or something like that. It would only damage its beak. And trying on softer things like fruit or berries could wind up overfeeding it and that would be a whole different issue – and expensive. What else was soft? The ground wasn’t too soft around these parts and she didn’t want the fletchling choking on a loose stone, anyway. Tackle was one thing. Peck was another.

Maybe it didn’t need to peck at anything, at the moment. Just go through the motions. Or work on flying. Though she’d rather not do that until she was sure she could command her fletchling well enough from the ground. Fletchling weren’t the nastiest things to be high up in the sky where they couldn’t otherwise reach, after all. And she didn’t want it getting shot out of the air by something, either.

Honestly, the easier thing would be to get pokemon who did know at least one attacking move and have them gain experience by battling other pokemon, but she’d need to know how to teach attacks at some point anyway so why not start now? And it felt too much like giving up: that quick, fleeting, thought.

She’d already given up on the fennekin. She didn’t want to give up on her other pokemon.

                ‘Okay.’ She crouched down next to the fletchling. ‘Let’s work this out.’

She had it use peck from a standing position again and again, holding a berry just out of reach (because one berry wouldn’t hurt) and working out which muscles shortened and which ones stretched. It used its entire body when it couldn’t reach but even when it hit the berry (sometimes, not all the times), it only made a soft dent. Her mother’s fletchling could spear a berry in half with its peck.

If only she’d paid closer attention to that when she’d had the chance.

                ‘ _I’ve got it_!’ Diance cried, and Serena made her way over. The dust cloud had settled by then, thankfully, but there was now a small crater and Diance’s jewels were looking rather dull. And it looked like she’d worn quite a crater into the ground as well. But she gestured to parts of her body and explained and Serena took careful notes, and the sun was setting and stomachs rumbling by the time that was done.

So after dinner was trying to translate that over to her other pokemon.

Tackle was one of the simpler ones, probably. Humans could tackle things, if not with the extra power boost from a learned move. Between that and Diance, she marked spots on her careful drawings of fletchling and scatterbug.

And the next morning was filled with lots of pointing and explaining, before she set them both on an untouched tree with a tackle.

They bounced back off, looking a little battered. Serena slapped her forehead. Of course they needed something softer, starting out. She grabbed the pillow from her room at the Pokemon Centre and that worked better. Maybe. Hopefully.

                ‘I feel like we haven’t made any progress,’ she sighed, just before lunch time, ‘after all that work.’

                ‘ _Improving is hard work,_ ’ Diance agreed. She was dustier than yesterday, and that had taken a while to scrub off, since Diance’s hands weren’t long enough to reach.

                ‘It certainly is,’ Serena agreed. ‘I’ve been impatient, if this is how most of our days of training will be. But it’ll pay off.’ People wouldn’t reach the top if it didn’t. ‘And we’ll keep on going until it does.’

                ‘ _Right,_ ’ Diance agreed.

And when she went back to check on her scatterbug and fletching, the pillow had moved a little. So they were building up power after all.

.

It went on for a few days. Aside from Diance, the others had two moves apiece to master: one old and one new. And they worked at it. Its accuracy. Its strength. And when both of those were down pat, its versatility. Especially string shot which was the only range attack they had, even if it still had a relatively short reach.

She decided to call herself lucky scatterbug had known that move already, because how was she supposed to explain _that?_

But there had to be ways. To teach pokemon moves above and beyond what humans were capable of. In the wild, it would be other pokemon, but for a trainer… Why didn’t someone just write all their methods into a book and make it easier for beginners?

She knew why, really. People were selfish. They didn’t want others benefiting from their own things, even if it would save so much time and effort. Maybe they could have moved much further than they had if people did pass on their knowledge in a less stingy way. There were move tutors, she knew. Expensive move tutors and she didn’t have a single shard to offer them yet and likely wouldn’t for some time. Nowhere in the south was known to be a haven for shards… But that didn’t matter. They were beginners, still. So they didn’t have fancy moves that could knock a Taurus out. They could attack now, and they couldn’t win if they couldn’t attack.

Though she could still only use her scatterbug in a trainer battle, even if she managed to pick up a few goods with how Diance broke up the soil. Maybe another day or two, and she could get her fletchling registered as well.

Two more days, she decided, and then they’d head out.

.

The day in between they spent going deeper into the grass, searching for wild pokemon. Rattata and bidoof and bunnelby were aplenty and stronger than scatterbug or fletchling on their own, but manageable when together. Still, it took Diance scaring away the rest and a few false tries before they managed to separate one to fight.

It was both short and long, because the first thing scatterbug did was trap it with its string shot, but it took many hits from the both of them to knock the rattata out. And it was uncomfortable to watch, but necessary. Battles were longer and shorter than that, more or less brutal, or more or less grating – and she’d watch them all, and master them all, and one day stand above it all as well as the Kalos champion.

                _‘Will the rattata join us as well?’_ Diance asked, remembering how they’d caught fletchling

                ‘No,’ Serena said, after a moment. ‘I can’t catch every wild pokemon we defeat, but there’s no point in letting it go, either. In the wild, it’s survival of the fittest, after all.’ She paused, then decided it was better to explain it all, regardless of how she thought Diance might react to the information. ‘Truthfully, rattata and bidoof and pokemon like that populate these trails because they’re good meat. Trainers train their pokemon against them and the ones they kill are sold to the butcher who then distributes it to the Pokemon Centre, shops, restaurants, cafes and all that. They’re over-bred for precisely that. And really, only beginning trainers train them. They rarely make it all the way to a major tournament.’

                ‘ _You’ve purposely selected these species of pokemon to be… livestock.’_ Diance didn’t sound angry though. Just sad.

                ‘Fletchling are as well,’ Serena continued, half talking to herself now, ‘but fletching at least, if they evolve, can become quite powerful. Raticate are strong for beginning trainers, but no seasoned trainer will have any trouble with them. As for scatterbug… Well, they’re used more to fed pokemon than humans, but Vivillon can fetch a high price on the market because of how beautiful their wings are.’

                ‘ _We aren’t equal_ ,’ Diance concluded.

                ‘Humans aren’t all equal either,’ Serena agreed. ‘So many people are trainers, but some start out with rattata or bidoof they catch with a trap and most of those don’t make it very far. Those with connections can get a better pokemon, like the fennekin from a lab – ‘ But fennekin hadn’t worked out for her. And she could just have easily wound up with a career-ender – but still, it wasn’t impossible. She would have kept on going… Wouldn’t she? Until what point? She had given up on fennekin, after all…

                _‘Serena?’_ Diance asked.

                ‘Sorry.’ Serena shook her head. ‘I was just thinking how much harder this could have been if I hadn’t met you.’

                ‘ _It still will be tough,’_ Diance pointed out, ‘ _if you need to keep me hidden.’_

 _‘_ For now,’ Serena agreed. ‘But I’ll still be depending on you in the forest. The scatterbug and fletchling won’t last through very many battles, as they are now.’

                ‘ _But you want them to last_.’

                ‘Of course I do. I don’t want any pokemon I’m training to wind up dead.’

                ‘ _And you want to prove you can be strong, even if you are the weaker half of the species… Or so humans think_.’

                ‘Yeah…’ She wondered where Diance was going with this.

                _‘And these rattata are thought of as weaker, too, but you said it yourself that it’s not impossible.’_

Serena blinked. Then laughed. Diance was right about that. ‘You want me to take this rattata,’ she said. ‘And train it into a raticate that will rip the Elite’s pokemon to shreds.’

                ‘ _It will be a challenge_ ,’ said Diance daintily.

                ‘I can’t do this with every wild pokemon we battle,’ Serena pointed out. ‘I need a balanced team.’

                ‘ _We can do it_ ,’ Diance said, sounding happier. ‘ _I think, next time, I’ll be a little more prepared.’_

A compromise, then.

Serena tossed a poke ball and the unconscious rattata joined their team to make four.


End file.
